Once a Wizard, Always a Shinobi Ch 32-34
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Haku grunted as Zabuza punched at his defenses sharply, wondering briefly if his new boyfriend? Lover? Would be back to take him home soon. It was a long term mission, that had been obvious by Shurachi’s own admission to being unable to take him then.
Another fist flying at his head was barely dodged and Zabuza growled. “Stop thinking about that mutt and pay attention! He’ll come when he comes, and you’ll go then. Until that time, you’re still my weapon!” Haku tried not to let the words hurt him, he’d known he was only a weapon to Zabuza-san. So why did it hurt so much to hear it now?
They had a job to prepare for, this sparring was only to get them warmed up. Some Water Country yakuza boss had hired them to stop a bridge from being built, he’d have to stay focused in order to avoid being betrayed.
Plus, he’d heard that the head bridge builder, some guy named Tazuna, had gone to hire Konoha shinobi. It was an amusing insult to Kirigakure, the fact that her own people didn’t trust in the shinobi skills enough to hire from their native Hidden Village.
It also meant he’d have to be careful not to reveal himself to them. He wasn’t officially a missing nin, he could join a village so long as it wasn’t made obvious he was working with a known missing nin.
That thought stung too. He’d tried to convince Zabuza that they could both join Konoha, that Shurachi could convince the Hokage as one of the famous Clan Heads. But his master? Friend? User? Had refused to even attempt it. He’d said it would make his revenge against Kiri that much harder if he joined a village and was accountable for his actions.
Zabuza stopped abruptly when Haku failed to go for an opening in his guard. “If you can’t stay focused on this, maybe you should leave early. You certainly won’t be any use to me on this mission.” He sneered behind his bandages and Haku went cold. He couldn’t possibly have lost his usefulness yet!
“My apologies Zabuza-sama, I will pay better attention from now on. There is no need to send me away just yet.” He hoped that his cold, calm tone would convince the older male.
It seemed to, as Zabuza relaxed a little and motioned for Haku to follow him. “We’ll be meeting up with Gatou and his thugs today. Make sure you keep an eye out for any shinobi that might have defected from Kiri. They’re most likely to join someone like him.” Haku nodded and pulled his hunter mask from it’s resting place atop his head.
With both their faces covered, the pair met up with the yakuza boss and settled their deal.
When he first saw the cheery blond genin, he couldn’t help the feeling of something off. He’d met this boy before, but he couldn’t think of where. Maybe during one of his many trips to Konoha? During a festival? He couldn’t think of a time he’d come into contact with such a loud person.
When Zabuza was injured, and he had to fake the mans death, all thoughts of the blond were whisked from his mind. He had to get Zabuza better quickly, or there really would be a problem with betrayal. Thankfully Gatou was weak and Zabuza was a fast healer.
That didn’t stop him from going out to collect herbs though. Zabuza’s recovery would be much faster if he had some help after all.
When he arrived at his favorite herb patch, he noticed a head of blond hair and quickly hid. What was that loud boy doing here? Had he somehow known this was where Haku collected his herbs? But that was impossible! The genin had never been to wave country before and he’d only just found this patch! Zabuza didn’t even know about it!
So it was a coincidence, right? He could still go and gather what he needed. Feeling relieved, Haku quietly entered the clearing and froze again; this time a small smile was pulling at his lips. The blond from before had fallen asleep in the patch. From the looks of it he’d been training and just passed out.
Gently, he knelt beside the boys head and pushed some hair out of his face. “Where have I met you before? I know it’s important somehow.” He sighed a little and moved away to begin picking his herbs. “It had to have been at a festival, because I remember you were wearing a decorative yukata.” He frowned a little and paused in his picking.
“It was in Konoha, I know that much already. Maybe during that Kyuubi festival? But we spent most of that time with Shurachi-kun.” The blond twitched and Haku froze for a moment before moving back to his side. It would be better for both of them if Naruto wasn’t to startled by his presence, so he would make himself known right away.
Blue eyes slowly blinked open, focused blurrily on his face, and a smile stretched the other boys lips. He yawned widely, showing off slightly sharpened fangs, and then blinked up at him again. “I know you…” he mumbled, obviously mostly asleep still.
Haku marveled briefly at the fact that anyone with shinobi training could be comfortable enough in his presence to remain so drowsy. “Shurachi-tousama was friends with you at the festival…” he trailed off, eyes widening in distress. “Ano, don’t tell him I said that!! Shurachi-kun has already done so much for me, I couldn’t stand it if he decided to ignore me again!”
Naruto shot up and Haku jerked back to avoid his head being smacked. “It isn’t like I’m ungrateful to him! What would Kiba say? His mom can’t be my dad! I don’t have a dad, please don’t tell them!” He turned pleading eyes on Haku and the older shinobi blinked as he realized where he’d seen this boy before.
His own blue eyes softened “I won’t tell them Naruto-kun, I promise. But what are you doing way out here?” Naruto blushed a little in embarrassment.
“I was training, but it got really late and I was to tired to head back into the village. You can’t tell Shurachi-kun that either, he’d skin me alive for falling asleep without any protection!” Naruto laughed a little awkwardly and scratched at the back of his head. “What are you doing out here? And…um…I’m sorry…but…Ikindofforgotyourname.”
Haku blinked, then sat back with a small laugh. “It’s alright Naruto-kun, my name is Haku. I promise not to tell Shurachi-kun about you sleeping out here so long as you don’t do it again. You never know when a random missing nin might show up and kill you.”
The basket was lifted and shaken enough to draw Naruto’s attention to it. “As for what I’m doing, gathering herbs. My stores are low and I need to restock them. I didn’t want to wake you up when you seemed so peaceful.”
The Kyuubi vessel’s eyes seemed to brighten. “Would you mind if I helped? I mean, I understand if you do, but Shurachi-kun always let me help him when he was working in his herb garden and it was fun to learn about them…” he trailed off again, obviously trying not to ramble.
The other shinobi’s gentle smile was reassuring though, and the pair got to work gathering herbs. When they were done Haku silently patted Naruto’s head and disappeared into the trees, while Naruto waved happily and headed back to Tazuna’s home.
He’d been expecting this, though he’d rather hoped to get out of having to fight the ball of sunshine. This was one of Shurachi-kun’s pups, he didn’t want to hurt him. Maybe he could just knock him out like he’d done with Zabuza? It would look like he was dead, but the recovery wouldn’t be so bad once all the needles were removed.
Haku threw the needed senbon, and gasped as the Uchiha child jumped in the way. What a foolish thing to do! The needles could have hit the wrong places and done real damage if he’d landed even a fraction of a degree wrong! And now poor Naruto would think that Haku had killed his teammate as well! Though, he didn’t know that the masked shinobi he was fighting was the same boy he’d met not to long ago.
“You killed him!” Naruto’s hoarse voice cut through his thoughts. “You killed Sasuke!” Chakra began to swirl, becoming visible; terrifying. The face of some sort of demon slowly emerged and snarled at him before he was being punched out of his ice dome. He felt his mask crack, pieces slowly falling away.
Blue eyes, so much brighter than his own, widened and gained a suspicious glint. “Ha-Haku? What? But…you’re Shurachi-kun’s friend!” Haku sighed quietly and took a step forward.
Naruto hastily stepped back, his dangerous chakra flickering around him. “I am his friend Naruto, I’m yours too. I promise you that, Sasuke was it?, will be just fine. I simply put him to sleep. Once you pull out all the needles he’ll be perfectly healthy again.” His soothing voice didn’t seem to be doing much for the hyperventilating blond.
“Why would you attack us? I thought…” He blinked, keeping back tears. Why was he getting so emotional over something like this?
Haku sighed and took another step forward, this one didn’t cause the blond to retreat and so he continued until he could wrap his arms around the considerably smaller boy. “It was either we attack you, without really intending to kill you, or Gatou’s men did it with every intent to wipe you out.” He wiped the tear that managed to escape away.
“Now fight me like a shinobi Naruto-kun, show me that Shurachi-kun should be proud of you. We can pretend we’re just sparring.” He pulled a pair of senbon up into a defensive position and waited for Naruto to rush him with a kunai before dodging and scraping the younger shinobi’s cheek.
They moved like this for a while, until both Zabuza and Haku allowed themselves to be “caught” by the Konoha shinobi. It was about this time that Gatou showed up with his men as well. Short work was made of them, with Haku and Zabuza joining the fray. Gatou’s head was removed sometime during the fighting and then they were gone.
Haku would go when his lord came for him, but until then he was still Zabuza’s weapon, still useful. The bloody senbon in his hand, a little slip of red tinted paper on the end, attested to this fact. They would collect their money for the killing of Gatou and be on their way.
He only hoped that the Inuzuka alpha would come back soon. He was beginning to get restless again.
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Shurachi slipped quietly into his room, glad that it was the middle of the night. It had taken the better part of the day to give all the details to the Hokage in a verbal, and then written report. He was looking forward to getting a shower and making breakfast for his pups.
Dropping his clothing to the floor carelessly, Shurachi didn’t bother to glance at the small body sleeping in his futon. Naruto had mentioned in one of his letters that he was using Shurachi’s room while the other was away.
Slipping out of his dirty traveling clothes, Shurachi stepped under the warm shower spray. He also had Haku to consider. Should he go out and find him now? He wasn’t going to be back permanently, would he be able to bring him along when he returned to those damn wizards?
Could he maybe leave Haku in his home to take care of his pups while he was gone? Their eating habits had declined since he’d left.
He also had Jonathan to think about. The boy had been very upset when Shurachi had come by the hospital wing and let him know that the shinobi would be leaving for a while. The way he’d reacted kind of worried Shurachi, it was almost like the boy was losing an older brother rather than a professor.
~_~flashback~_~
Shurachi waved Hajime off as they passed the doors to the hospital wing. The other jyônin could pack their things for them while he got his arm looked at, if not fixed. The first thing he noticed about the room when he entered was the smell. It was very clean, almost exactly like the hospitals back home. For some reason, this reassured him.
The second thing he noticed was all the first years. They made up the majority of the patients in the room. From the looks of it they were simply being checked over and berated by their heads of house.
Madame Pomfrey was standing off to the side, organizing some potions bottles. Shurachi was grateful that she wasn’t to busy, he’d have hated to interrupt her. So, walking over to her and clearing his throat, the Inuzuka motioned toward his limp arm.
“If you could please take a look at my arm Pomfrey-sensei. The bones seem to have been shattered by some sort of curse.” He absently directed a bit of chakra to the area to help immobilize it while the rest of the kikai evacuated that portion of his arm for the lower half.
She stared at him, probably wondering if he was serious, then waved her wand over the area. Almost immediately afterward, Shurachi found himself herded to a bed with potions being thrust toward his mouth. He refused to swallow any of them however.
“What’s wrong with you, you silly child? Drink the potions so we can fix that arms of yours!” She cried, drawing the attention of the rest of the room.
He frowned at her “I will drink nothing until you explain to me what it is. For all I know you could be trying to poison me, ply me with a truth serum, or simply wish to see what will happen if you attempt to force me into something.”
She pursed her lips but obligingly held up a light blue potion. “This one will gather all the bone shards together in the right order.” He drank it as she wished and barely even twitched as the pieces tore new paths through his muscle in an effort to take on their original shape.
“This one will cement the pieces together into a whole bone again.” She handed him a dark green potion and he drank that one as well, relaxing marginally when a cool sensation filled his upper arm.
A bright orange potion was produced and handed to him, though he waited for the explanation before downing it. “That one will close up any cuts that are still bleeding, like that one on your cheek.”
“And this one,” here she plucked a swirling purple and black potion off the tray “, this one will get rid of those bugs that seem to had entered your body. I’ve never heard of Death Eaters doing that to someone, but it can’t be healthy.”
The Mediwitch held the potion out expectantly, and frowned when Shurachi merely pushed it back toward her. “Thank you Pomfrey-sensei, but the bugs were something intentional. Where I come from they are a weapon of sorts used by a certain clan. They are more of an asset than a health risk.”
The woman sputtered, but Shurachi ignored her in favor of plucking up a swirling yellow and green potion. “What is this one for?” he asked politely.
The woman sniffed unhappily, but told him what it did anyway. “That one will repair your muscles and increase calcium production until the bone is completely healed. Once you take that one don’t take nay other potions for twenty four hours. Don’t do anything with your arm either, it wouldn’t take much to displace part of the bone while it’s repairing.”
Shurachi nodded and downed the potion, barely noticing the horrid flavor. All of the first years were watching him in slight awe, wondering how he ignored the taste of the potions so easily.
One first year in particular was watching him. Jonathan waited until Shurachi had left the hospital wing before slipping around the tiny Professor Flitwick and darting through the still swinging doors.
“Inuzuka-sensei!” Shurachi stopped, and then steadied the first year as he barreled into the older male’s legs. “Inuzuka-sensei, thank you for saving us. I know we shouldn’t have been out there, but the bigger kids were saying how fun it was and I didn’t want to let them call me a coward and we really didn’t know that Death Eaters were going to attack and-”
Shurachi cut him off by crouching in front of the child. “You’re right that you shouldn’t have been out there. A good shinobi doesn’t let taunts like that endanger his mission, and your mission was to keep yourself safe.” He sighed and ruffled the child’s hair with his newly healed arm.
“But you aren’t a shinobi in training, no matter how much I sometimes think you and the others are.” A stern look settled on his features. “You will behave while I’m gone. I don’t want to come back and find out you’ve snuck out of the castle on a Hogsmead weekend again. Do you understand?”
The water trickled slightly cold and he sighed. Time to get out if the water was running cold to the bathroom.
Once he’d taken his shower and changed into a sleeping yukata, Shurachi moved downstairs to the kitchen and began to prepare a large breakfast. Hajime was going to clean up and then come over for breakfast and to let the kids know they were back for a while.
He was checking the rice when a small noise behind him made him pause. A kunai pressed to the small of his back, something he could have dodged without issue, and a tired voice growled at him to not move. A small quirk of his lips was hidden as he dipped his head forward.
“Who are you and what are you doing in this house?” the voice growled and Shurachi bit back a grin. Naruto could certainly sound intimidating!
“Answer me!” The kunai bit into his back, causing a small tear in the apron string. Shurachi began to quietly tend to the rice again, ignoring the order. What would Naruto do to protect his house? Would he really go through with what his threat was implying?
He’d been careful not to wake anyone, but he hadn’t been trying to keep his presence a secret once he started breakfast. Honestly, he’d expected to have someone investigating earlier than this. The kunai pressed a little harder, then eased up as Naruto woke up more.
It was a great shinobi secret, kept carefully from the civilians, that most shinobi weren’t actually morning people. In fact, a good deal of the instantaneous waking up that they seemed to do was entirely fake. Shurachi did wake up as soon as he sat up, but Hajime took nearly a half hour, or a soldier pill, before he was awake enough to actually make sense of anything besides “Enemy, kill. Friend, don’t kill.”
Naruto appeared to have learned this trick, appearing alert when you were still half asleep, and was only marginally faster at registering reality than Hajime.
“Sit down Naruto, breakfast is almost done. Where are the other two? Hajime sent word that they weren’t at his place and usually Kiba is mauling the breakfast table as soon as he smells food.” Naruto took a step back, dropped his kunai, and then hurried to get a look at the intruder’s face.
When he did, the blonds face lit up. “Shurachi!” His yell was loud enough to make Shurachi flinch a little, his sensitive ears throbbing at the volume. Something upstairs crashed and Shurachi dearly hoped it wasn’t anything irreplaceable.
He didn’t have long to worry though, because his arms were soon full of enthusiastic blond jinchuriki and the sound of feet pounding down stairs was drowning out anything else.
A body pelted into his side, a face burying itself there with a little yip of happiness. He could feel his brothers sensitive nose rubbing enthusiastically against his ribs, taking in his scent as any Inuzuka would do when their parent was away from them for a long time.
Then Shino was attached to his other side, Naruto having taken all the space in the front. A swarm of kikai swirled above them, his own automatically crawling out to investigate the excitement joined the swarm. He smiled down at them, doing his best to hug all three.
“And how have my boys been doing with me away?” Shurachi asked and then grinned as they all began to talk at once. Even Shino, who was usually content to let Kiba do all the talking for them, was eagerly telling him about some of the things he’d learned while training with his team. Kiba of course peppered his opinion on what Shino was saying into the conversation as well as boasting about how easy the missions were for him to do.
He let them continue to talk over each other, following all three conversations with the ease of long practice. He’d become very good at gathering information from more than two people at the same time when he’d been a genin. He’d had to in order to deal with both Iruka and Renji as well as whatever random genin showed up to ask for his help in something.
The tea began to steam, loudly, and the boys quieted. “It sounds like you’ve had quite the interesting time since I was gone. Perhaps I should have stayed away longer?” Shurachi mused as he carefully removed the steaming pot from the stove.
All three boys tightened their hold on him, Kiba even managing to open his mouth to deny this idea, when Hajime made his presence known.
“I think we should stay for a while first, it looks like three limpets have quite firmly attached themselves to you.” He spared them a smile, even managing one that was a little less like a grimace for Naruto. Shurachi gave him an approving look and ushered all three boys to the table.
“They won’t be so attached to me once I start training with them. They’ll be begging for you to take me back out on the mission again!” Kiba and Naruto protested, loudly, that they would never want Shurachi to leave because of some training. Shino merely nodded his agreement, his talkative streak apparently satisfied.
Then the Aburame’s attention was on his father and the kikai that were swarming near the stove separated. Shurachi’s own returned to him, settling outside of his skin in order to calm down some before returning inside of him. Shino’s moved over to his father and began to lightly tap against the openings that the older Aburame’s kikai came out of.
Shurachi began to move dishes from the stove to the table, watching every now and then as kikai were slowly drawn out of Hajime. This was like the Inuzuka’s need to reaffirm a parents scent upon return from a long mission. The kikai would mingled, sharing bits of chakra between them, then they would return with a full report on the other hosts health.
It was something of a joke between Hajime and Shurachi that Shino saw Shurachi as his mother, since he’d never really known her. The fact that Shino had felt the need to have a report from his kikai seemed to have proved that he was at least a strong parental figure to the boy.
Though it wasn’t stronger than Hajime’s bond with his son, because Shurachi’s own kikai had come out without coaxing.
Once everyone was settled at the table, and eating the food Shurachi had made, everything settled down. There was quiet conversation about the boys missions, one moment of loud laughter when Akamaru knocked a piece of chicken out of Kiba’s chopsticks, and then more silent eating.
It wasn’t until everyone had headed to their own homes that Kiba mentioned Doku.
“Okaasan? Ano, what happened to Doku?” His brother paused in the cleaning of dishes, then picked up again a little more forcefully.
“He was taken down while fighting one of the people we were hired to kill. I’m only here long enough to train his…replacement.” Shurachi grimaced at the word, not liking the implications at all. No one could replace Doku.
After that there wasn’t any mention of the dog. Hajime must have warned Shino, Kiba probably warned Naruto, because neither boy asked about the missing canine either.
He’d been back for nearly three days when Kiba thought to inform him of a stray dog wandering their property. “We didn’t want to do anything, because it growled at Kunimitsu-oji when he tried to get it into a pen. He said to just wait for you to get back or for it to wander off.”
Shurachi frowned at his little brother and carefully set aside the kunai he’d been sharpening. It was a bonding activity that the pair had indulged in every weekend before Shurachi had left. “Does he look like a strong dog?”
Kiba shrugged and passed the wet sharpening stone over one edge of his shuriken. “He looks like he could be, if he wasn’t covered in flees, ticks, malnourished, and possibly injured. He walks funny, like something’s wrong with his back paw.”
The elder Inuzuka hummed in the back of his throat and picked up a senbon. His were getting a little dull and would require much more force if he needed to use them as weapons. So a stray dog was wandering around, probably a strong one as well. “When was the last time you saw it?” Shurachi asked, then frowned as the senbon bent.
Tossing the useless needle aside, Shurachi reached for another one and began sharpening. Kiba switched his shuriken for a kunai before answering. “He usually shows up to get some food when we feed the dogs. He waits until everyone else has gotten something to eat before coming in to get what’s left. I’ve been checking our dogs to make sure they haven’t gotten any ticks or anything from him though, so don’t worry about that.”
Shurachi nodded and finished with his last senbon, giving him an uneven nine. He didn’t much like the weapon, but having an uneven number like that was a little annoying. “I’ll see what I can do about it tonight. If the dog attacks a villager we’ll get blamed for it, even if it isn’t one of ours.” He grimaced at the thought of some Hyuuga getting bitten. As funny as it would be, he really didn’t need to be worrying about such things.
That evening, when Shurachi and Kiba went out to fill up the food and water bowls, green eyes zeroed in on a scrawny creature hiding in the shade of some trees at the back of the yard. It was large, black, and would probably be an impressive sight once it was healthy. Now though, it just made him want to stuff it full of food.
The pack of dogs was excited to see them, as they always were, and pushed at each other to lick his hands or bump into his legs. Shurachi laughed and stroked each one that got close enough, very carefully not looking for the brown husky dog he’d grown up with.
He and Kiba spent nearly an hour outside playing with the dogs and just enjoying the enthusiastic company before he ordered his brother inside to get ready for bed. Kiba had a mission in the morning and Shurachi wasn’t going to let him miss it just because he was back in town.
The canines calmed and drowsily wandered off to sleep once the sun was down and Shurachi pinned his gaze on the slow moving form emerging from the darkness. It looked at him for a moment, as if it were trying to decide if Shurachi was a threat, then it continued on to the fullest food dish and began to eat.
He repeated this several times, each time sitting closer to the fullest food bowl, until he felt reasonably sure of his safety. Once he was close enough to touch, Shurachi began to talk with the dog in a mix of canine sounds and human speech.
It didn’t seem to mind, didn’t seem to notice at all really. Sometimes it would react to a growl or a whimper, but for the most part the dog was content to eat and slink off into the forest. Shurachi didn’t try to make the creature stay, he was rather enjoying being home and wanted to delay his return to the mission as long as possible.
Snow had covered the ground, and been properly thrown at jyônin sensei’s, before the dog broke the routine. It finished the food in the bowl, a much more fatty blend that helped keep the cold of winter from getting through canine fur, then moved to sit by Shurachi’s feet.
Tired blue eyes seemed to inspect him before the creature let out a croak that might have been a bark in any other dog. Shurachi winced at the sound and carefully leaned forward to touch the dogs head. It sighed and pressed against his hand, letting him feel the scabs from the various parasites that had taken residence in its fur.
After a while of Shurachi carefully pulling ticks off one of it’s ears the dog simply stood back up and trotted off. Shurachi crushed the last tick he’d managed to pick off and cleaned his hands in the snow. He wasn’t to worried about fleas, his kikai wouldn’t tolerate another insect living on him and had already dispatched of three. By the time he got into the house he wouldn’t have a single one on his person.
The next day Shurachi carefully attached a flea collar when the dog came over to sit by his legs. It startled the animal, but didn’t cause it to run off. Several more ticks met their end at the tips of Shurachi’s fingers and the beast moved off to the trees.
Halfway through December, the dog once again broke their routine. He was looking healthier for the flea collar, which Shurachi replaced periodically, but he’d never consented to have anything else done about the bugs crawling through his fur.
This time, when he finished with his food, he walked over to nudge Shurachi’s hand and then moved to paw at the quarantine building. It wasn’t very big and contained only six dog pens, but it was where sick dogs were housed in order to keep the rest of the pack from getting ill as well.
Shurachi let him in without a fuss. The dog, which he’d taken to calling Sabishíi (lonesome), settled in one of the chakra rich corners that was designed to clean things out of fur. Sometimes the animals picked up things on missions and the chakra field that his sister had invented worked perfectly for getting rid of external nuisances.
Shurachi smirked a little. “I take it you’ll become my new partner then Sabishíi?” A small croaking sound from the dog was his answer and Shurachi gently close the door to the fenced in room. “We’ll make sure you get well, then we’ll worry about training and such. You’re much to thin for me to do anything with you right now.” An indignant huff and Shurachi laughed.
“You’re right, you do look much better than you did, but you still aren’t healthy.” He smiled at the animal curling up in the corner and activated the chakra field that would keep anything from escaping the holding pen. “I’m glad you chose today to come in here. I have to leave for a while and I didn’t want my pup to have to start gaining your trust all over again. He and my sister will look after your health while I’m gone, so be good for them Sabishíi.”
The dog got out a more proper bark and Shurachi grinned a little at the noise. It seemed like Sabishíi’s vocal chords were already enjoying the pampering of warm air. He left the building and scooped a rather startled Kiba into his arms. Shino hid a smirk behind his collar, but Naruto didn’t hold back his laughter at the Inuzuka’s startled expression.
It was a little awkward, but Shurachi got Kiba settled in his arms so the genin was sitting on his arm. “You, my darling little child, will be in charge of my new dog while I’m gone. I have to retrieve something I left in someone’s care and I’ll be leaving tonight.” He kissed Kiba’s cheek, winking at the other two genin sitting around his tea table.
“Kaasan! Put me down, I’m not a baby anymore!” Kiba complained, squirming in an attempt to escape his brothers clutches. Shurachi laughed and let him get away, making as if to snatch him back once he was out of range. “Geeze Okaasan, you could have just said you got the dog to trust you. You didn’t have to pick me up like that!”
The older Inuzuka waved his hand through the air as if such a complaint didn’t matter. “I have left enough food in the fridge to last a week, you are not to eat anything Hajime-nii cooks, Shino is in charge, and Akamaru is to find Kunimitsu-oji if something to do with the clan comes up. Am I understood?”
He eyed the three boys until each one had agreed then swept passed them and up the stairs. The long house robe he’d had on was removed and hung up, revealing standard shinobi snow gear. A sack of money was stashed in his pack and one last sweep of the room gained him the new set of kunai Iruka had gotten him for Christmas.
He’d given the academy teacher some exploding tag material in return, but Naruto had still berated them for not getting each other something a little less dangerous. For some reason the kid thought that Christmas gifts should be about peaceful things rather than practical things. He had, of course, gotten some darker colored clothing from both adults.
Slipping out his window, as was Shurachi’s customary method of leaving for a personal mission, the jyônin couldn’t stop a small smile from forming. “I’m coming for you little Haku, you had better be ready.”
In a small hot spring in water country, Haku sneezed.
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Shurachi sneezed as he scented the air. There was smoke, most likely campfire smoke, and that meant he was getting close. He’d been away for nearly a week already, plenty of time for all the unpleasant things he didn’t want the dog to associate with him to be done. If he didn’t find him in the next week then he’d have to return to Konoha and try again in the spring. Hokage-sama had only given him two weeks.
He could smell Haku on the wind though, so he doubted it would take the entire two weeks.
It was decidedly disconcerting to be wandering through wilderness without a dog at his side. He’d always had Doku with him and now that the dog was gone he felt as though he was missing a limb. Hopefully this new dog, Sabishíi, would bond with him tight enough to get rid of that feeling.
A sudden cloud of Haku’s scent pulled him from his thoughts and green eyes focused on the small camp below him. Zabuza had already glanced up at him and turned away, rightly deciding Shurachi wasn’t a threat at the moment. Haku had continued to set up their camp, only glancing around him every now and then to try and spot whoever the new chakra signature belonged to.
Shurachi didn’t make him wait long. He dropped silently to the ground behind Haku and just barely managed to catch the fist that came flying at his face. The younger shinobi blinked at him, taking in the civilian clothing and the lack of a hitae-ate. He’d wanted to blend in better with the other travelers on the road, so he’d tucked his shinobi gear into his pack.
Once it registered who, exactly, this man was, Haku’s face broke into a smile. “Shurachi-kun!” He took a step forward and raised his arms, as if to embrace the Inuzuka, then seemed to second guess himself and instead merely smiled brightly.
Shurachi, for his part, let a warm smile take his lips before turning his attention to Zabuza. “Do you mind if I stay in your camp for tonight?” Haku’s smiled faltered a little; he took a step back.
“So long as you aren’t on a hunting mission.” Came Zabuza’s slightly surly reply and Shurachi bowed a little in thanks before dropping his pack to the ground.
Green eyes flickered to the uncertain form of Haku before Shurachi, with a little amused quirk of the lips, set about getting his own camping supplies set up. Only once he was settled in their small campsite did he turn his attention back on Haku.
The younger shinobi had let his bangs fall forward to cover his face and was silently tending to some sort of meat on the fire. Shurachi quirked a little smile as he imagined the teens bottom lip jutted out in a pout.
Zabuza raised an eyebrow as Shurachi silently crept behind Haku and slid his arms around the smaller males waist.
Haku straightened up with a small squeak and twisted his head to look at Shurachi. “Shurachi-kun…?” He mumbled, a blush over taking his cheeks.
The Inuzuka smiled at him and squeezed in a small hug. “You’ll be coming home with me tomorrow Haku.” The blush darkened and even Zabuza couldn’t stop himself from grinning at the younger shinobi’s obvious happiness.
Green eyes lifted to inspect the swordsman even as Haku turned around to return the hug. “You’ll also be welcome in our village. Konoha holds no treaty with Kirigakure and Hokage-sama has given me permission to extend an open invitation to you.”
“I don’t have the papers needed to get passed the gate Inuzuka,” Zabuza said.
Shurachi smirked and detached himself from Haku to search through his bag. A folder was pulled out, filled with papers, and handed over to Zabuza. “Those detail you as a traveling citizen of Konoha. It also lists you as Haku’s father, meaning you can come visit him any time you like. It also includes a copy of Haku’s official shinobi status for Konohagakure.”
“It seems he was never actually registered in Kiri as a shinobi, so we don’t have to worry about Bingo Book Red Tape and since you aren’t registered as a shinobi in Konoha, merely the civilian father of a shinobi, we aren’t required to send out a warning to other villages that you’re no longer a missing nin.”
He settled himself beside the fire and wrapped his arm around Haku when the other immediately sat beside him. “Of course, this also means we can’t control your actions outside of our village. So if you happen to take a job that benefits Konoha, well, it was hardly our idea.”
There was silence for several long seconds before Zabuza chuckled and tucked the papers into his own travel pack. After that there was little talk, and what was said was only polite inquiries into health.
When the sun began to peak through the leaves surrounding them, Shurachi moved from his already packed bag and settled beside Haku. Very gently, he trailed a finger down the younger shinobi’s cheek then cupped it. A quick glance at Zabuza showed he’d turned away from them.
Braids trailed thickly across his back as Shurachi leaned forward and then their lips were touching and he could feel something tight unwind in his stomach. It warmed when Haku slid a hand up his chest and over his shoulder.
He kept it clean, almost innocent even. Their lips remained closed and he pulled away after he was sure Haku was awake.
“Come on Haku, we should get going. I left a new dog in Konoha that I’ll need to start training.” The ice user blinked sleepily up at him, but complied with his order and began to gather his things. Shurachi picked up his own bag and launched himself onto a tree branch to give the pair in the clearing some privacy.
When he was joined in the trees they set off toward Konoha.
When they arrived it took a little pulling of rank and some very light intimidation to get the chûnin guards to let Haku in. He had the papers, but they were wary of people trying to sneak in and sabotage the chûnin exams ahead of time. They met no problems on their way to the Inuzuka compound and silently crept into the just waking house.
Or rather already awake house. Apparently the boys had gotten wise to his preference for arriving in the early morning. Of course, he would never protest having the three of them hug him so he wrapped his arms around them and simply enjoyed being home.
Haku touched his back and he straightened a little. “Boys, I would like you to meet my….ah….boyfriend, Haku.” He pulled the other forward and quirked a small smile as the three boys stared up at his small lover. Then Naruto gasped and pointed dramatically at Haku, a look of recognition on his face.
“You! You were that boy in Wave Country! Why didn’t you say your were Shurachi-kun’s boyfriend!?” Haku blinked at Naruto, momentarily confused, before he remembered what the other was talking about.
“Well Naruto-kun, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was to him back then.” He smiled disarmingly and tilted his head just enough to appear cutely innocent. All three genin melted and bowed a little while introducing themselves. Haku did the same, introducing himself again, then let Shurachi lead him into the kitchen and sit him at the table.
The Inuzuka Clan Head looked over his family and frowned a little. Someone was missing from his table. A quick kikai was sent off to inform Hajime that he was expected for breakfast and the jyônin began cooking. “Now that you’ve all properly met, it’s only fair to tell you that Haku will likely be living on Inuzuka grounds if not in this very house.”
Kiba looked up sharply, understanding better than the other two what that would mean. “He will also make sure you eat something other than convenience food once I return to my mission. I want you to treat him the same you would treat me.” Noticing the sly smiles starting to form, green eyes narrowed. “Better than you would treat me then.” The smiles dropped.
Haku covered his laugh and winked at the three pouting boys. They would get Shurachi back for that. The mental plotting was interrupted by the deliberate step of someone entering the kitchen. Everyone turned to look at Hajime, who was eyeing both Naruto and Haku warily. “I was sleeping Shurachi, but I just can’t resist the call of your food.”
Said Inuzuka snorted and began placing dishes on the table. “I hardly believe that Hajime. I want you to meet Haku, my boyfriend. He’ll be staying here.” Hajime quirked a small smile and sketched a bow.
With a sly smile on his lips, the older Aburame settled at the table and began to make his plate. “So this is that delicious scent from the woods is it? Well, I certainly understand why you rushed off to find it.” Haku blushed cherry blossom pink and ducked his head towards his rice bowl.
Green eyes rolled and Shurachi tossed a roll at Hajime’s head, which was neatly caught and eaten. “Quit embarrassing people at the table Hajime-nii. Eat your breakfast boys.” The three boys, who had been snickering, quickly bent to their food. “And don’t mind him Haku, he’s just jealous because he doesn’t have someone as pretty as you.”
Laughter broke out as Kiba piped up “He has Shino though!” and then looked around in confusion as the adults laughed and Shino ducked his head with a blush. Naruto controlled his own snickering by stuffing his face with a roll of sweet bread.
Once breakfast was over Hajime quickly rushed out, saying he had to turn in a report for the small border patrol mission he’d done the night before. The boys were also herded out, a stern command to go do their missions in Shurachi’s eyes. They grumbled, but there wasn’t any open rebellion when he gave them their bentos so he didn’t comment.
He took the time to clean the dishes they’d used, explaining everything he could think of about Konoha to Haku. Then he was done, with no work to do, and a very pretty man sitting at his table. He turned to look at Haku, green eyes taking in the small smile and the gracefully folded hands. They swept over the delicate face and focused on the slightly parted lips.
“Haku…” he murmured, taking a slow step toward the other male. Haku looked up at him in curiosity, flushing a little at the intense look in Shura’s eyes.
The ice user didn’t let that scare him though. Instead he carefully moved to face Shurachi, his knees separating a little to accommodate the new position, and smiled coyly up at the Inuzuka. “Yes Shurachi-kun?” He whispered, eyelids lowering so he was peering through his lashes.
A pink tongue darted out to wet chapped lips and Shurachi took another step forward, his hands cupping Haku’s face. “Are you curious to see what a shinobi can do that a village boy can’t, my little love?”
Breath hitching, Haku nodded slightly and moaned when those recently wetted lips slid smoothly over his own gloss moistened ones. Thin, pale hands crept over Shura’s shoulders to grip tightly at the fabric and the younger male gasp when the Inuzuka pressed a leg between Haku’s thighs.
They separated, Haku panting cutely and Shura lifting him bodily out of the chair so his legs were wrapped around the taller’s waist. Haku quickly set to work nibbling Shura’s throat as the older stumbled up the stairs to his room. He wanted Haku, but he didn’t want his pups to see how much he wanted the smaller male. There was also the issue of stinking up the kitchen with the scent of sex, which he knew any Inuzuka would be able to smell.
It wasn’t as slow or as gentle as Shura would have liked to make their first time, but Haku’s keening whines and wriggling body made it difficult to control himself. When it was done and he’d pulled Haku onto his chest he promised himself he would be more careful next time. There was a small bit of pink on the sticky white of his cock and it worried him. For now though, they would bask in the afterglow and enjoy the lazy morning sun.